The Outsiders: A Change In The Tides
by Sephiria Arks
Summary: Ponyboy Curtis, his friends, and family are back. After the deaths of Johnny and Dally, things are starting to return to normal. But not exactly. New Soc's and Greasers have come into town, and things go haywire for everyone on both sides. Will Pony's hometown ever go back to the way it was?, or will the changes lead to new beginnings? [Will also be posted on wattpad.]
1. Chapter 1

I had caught word that some new Socs had moved into town, as I walked down a street in town. A small stone was being tossed up and down in my hand when I heard it from a Soc who just got off of the phone in a convenience store when I was barely out the door. He had wanted me to hear, and I knew that the Socs would come out tonight and celebrate. And by celebrate, I mean pick a fight with one or two of us Greaser's and get drunk. And us Greaser's, we do the same, but more on a lesser level than what they do.

I gently hummed a tune from a show that I saw last night, and stopped at the street corner. Cars bustled on by as I waited for traffic to clear, and I would hear the words 'Greaser' be yelled out to me, but I ignored'em. Their words have no meaning to me, not matter what they say, I'm proud for who I am. And no one can change that but me.

Stay gold Pony.

I'll stay gold, Johnny, I'll always stay gold. I can promise you that. And I'll make sure that no matter what happens, I'll do my best to hold on to that promise. Just watch over me, and if I start to turn brass, give me a warning when I do.

The cars stopped rolling by a couple of minutes later, and I walked across the street to the other side. I walked down to the old railroad, and threw the rock with the rest of the others that lay by the track. The whistle of a train was soon blowing, and I walked a few feet away from the tracks to give me a good few feet from the oncoming train.

I turned down onto a road, and headed down the long street. I made a couple of turns here and there, and soon arrived at my house. Soda was home since today was his day off, but Darry, he was out working today. I shoved open the gate and closed it shut behind me, and walked up the steps of my house. The screen door slammed shut, and I threw my bag onto the trunk that I always threw my school stuff on.

"You're home early, Pony, if Darry caught ya, he would tell you go straight back to school right now. But I'm not Darry, so why ya home early?"

"Today's June 6th Soda, it's a half day for everyone at school. No homework and no grades to worry about for nearly three whole months. And Darry can take it easier on me and not have to worry about my grades until the first week of school starts."

"But he will be waiting for ya report in the mail, which takes about one or two weeks to come. So he is going to be wondering did my little brother passed all his classes with A's?, did he make a B?, or did he fail? But that's just Darry wondering about your education, cause he knows a good education can help you make a good future."

I laughed a small bit at Soda, as he was lying down full length on the couch in our living room. I kind of shook my head at him, and just sat down on the floor and stared at the TV. There was a western movie on right now, and I knew Soda was rooting for the good guy to catch the bad guy in his head.

"Oh Soda, I heard from a Soc that two new Socs came into town. Think there might be trouble going on tonight?"

"Pony, best that you stay indoors tonight, and if you do go outside make sure that you stay hidden. New Socs and old Socs hanging out, drinking and driving around, we are going to be in hell. Now why don't we get off our lazy asses and tell the other's so they can get ready and be on the defense. We don't want any surprises coming our way, and if we see Darry just tell him you will try to stay indoors and if you do go out, you will stay pretty much hidden or go to the movies. Now come, up and away we go."

I got off the floor and he just rolled off the couch laughing his head off when he hit the floor with a small bang. Jumping to his feet, I turned off the TV and we both marched happily out of our house. Soda was jumping a bit all around cause he had been cramped in the house all day waiting for me to get home, and so he had a bunch of energy to burn off.

Steve Randall soon came upon our path and the three of us hung back as we saw a group of Socs walk on by. They shot death glares at us, and I could see a few throw some smirks at us. Tonight is gonna be one hell of a nightmare, that is for certain.

We walked by the main street ice cream store, and just by looking through the window I saw Cherry and Marcia sitting at a table, each with an ice cream sundae, happily talking and laughing. I turned my head away and quickly caught up to Soda and Steve. The two of them didn't ask me why I stopped, cause they saw me staring at Cherry. They both knew I was crushing on her.

"So Soda, where we heading to anyway?"

"The Shepard's place. Tim and his gang can help us out with taking down the Socs tonight, Pony. Plus Angela, she has the a number from another group of Greaser's, so she can get us some help."

Steve and Soda soon started to a whistle a tune while they kind of goofed off around me, and we started to pick on each other. I managed to grab Soda into a headlock until Steve grabbed me and kind of threw me onto his shoulder. Some people looked at us like we were crazy, but after a bit we kind of toned down roughing each other up.

"Hey ya Two-Bit! Stop trying to pick up that girl there, she ain't gonna go with ya anywhere!"

"Quit your wise talking Soda, will ya? Why not go bother someone else who is trying to get a pretty little gal?"

I looked over in the direction that Soda was staring in, and saw Two-Bit across with the street leaning on a brick with talking to a girl. She laughed a small bit at Two-Bit and Soda arguing, Two-Bit just showed her a small polite grin. Good grief! When did Two-Bit start to become a gentleman?

Two-Bit crossed the street along with the girl, and one or two cars honked at them as they crossed. The girl that came with Two-Bit had short curly brown hair, deep green eyes, and freckles that dazzled all over her cheeks. Gosh was she pretty, no wonder Two-Bit was being a gentleman.

"Everyone, this is Christy, she transferred here three weeks ago due to her pop getting a job here. So whatcha boys up too?"

"Just spreading the news that the Socs are gonna try to torture us tonight, Two-Bit. They just got two new members, and we were gonna informed Tim Shepard and his sis Angela."

"Leave me to telling Shepard and his baby sister, Pony. Pony, you need to keep on the low side of this after all of the stuff that you pulled this school year, here. Soda, you watch him and make sure he do nothing stupid, you hear me? Don't want Darry to lose ya both, cause he almost did lose ya both once, here."

I just nodded my head at Two-Bit, and he soon walked off with an arm around Christie. Soda made that noise that horses make behind Two-Bits back, while Steve just blew a kiss at him. I broke out into a laugh, and they did too. Do we have a weird way of showing how we can make fun of someone without them knowing.

"You three better not being doing anything stupid behind me back that involves me right now."

I could feel my eyes grow wide, and the three of us took off running. We did not want to face Two-Bit and his favorite black handle switchblade.


	2. Chapter 2

Evening soon came, and I hung out in the living room with Soda. The two of us, we had our eyes glued to the TV as a western movie called Rio Bravo, which stared John Wayne came on. There was a small thud coming from Darry's room, which grabbed my attention from the TV. Getting up to my feet, I carefully walked to Darry's bedroom with Soda right behind me. Motioning my head to Soda to open up Darry's door, he waved his hands at me and all I did was just shake my head no. We kept at this for a minute or two, until the door opened up and we were whack on the heads by a leather jacket.

"So my kid brothers decided to spy on me, huh? Good grief, now I'm the one who needs the babysitter here? So watcha you two doing by my door?"

"We heard a thud coming from your room, and we decided to check out what was going on."

"Well, I was looking for my leather, here. So don't ya two worry about me, I can take of myself. It's you two that I need to care of around here. So don't go all mother figure on me."

We stepped out of his way, as he walked out of his room and we followed him to the living room. He slipped his arms into the sleeves of his leather jacket, and flicked the collar up around his neck. Turning around to face us, he gave us one of his coldest stares that we would always receive when he had to deal something and that we were to not get involved.

"Now, I don't want ya two coming after me for this fight here, alright? If one of you are going to leave the house, leave a note and don't come anywhere near us Greasers who are gonna fight. See a Soc hide or go into a store and ask police to escort ya home. I'm not taking chances with you two getting arrested and going to jail and taken away from me. No way on ma and pa's grave am I letting that happen. Ya hear me?"

The two of us nodded our heads at Darry, and with that he turned around and left the house. The screen door closed with a bang, and I stared at Soda. He just shrugged his shoulders at me, and we soon heard the bangs of a gun. I jumped a small bit, and Soda was soon laughing at me.

"Got scared by the TV Pony, good grief."

I soon broke out into a laugh myself, and we went back to watching the movie. We weren't sure how long the movie was at all, but by the time the movie was over it was half past nine in the evening. Soda had dozed about twenty minutes ago, so I turned off the TV and grabbed my jacket. I didn't want to stay in the house all cooped up with Soda all evening, so I decided to go out for a walk. I wrote a small note that I was going to walk around the neighborhood for a while.

For a long while, the roads were quiet and I kind of enjoyed it. There was a bit of a misty rain coming down along with a small breeze flowing through, so it felt nice on my skin. I let out a gentle low whistle from a movie that I was watching this morning. Some nerves in my back tingled a bit, and I had the feeling that there was someone following me. Turning around, I got my hands bawled into a fist ready to this person incase they decided to fight me. But when I saw the person behind me, I saw that it was a girl.

"Sorry, I was walking around here and I heard the familiar tune and decided to find out where it was coming from. I didn't know you were fan of John Wayne."

"My brothers and my friends, we're all fans of John Wayne. He's amazing, even in those cool western movies of his."

She kind of laughed a small bit, and I kind of joined in with her. Looking at her, I noticed that she didn't look anything like a greaser at all, but more of a like a Soc. Her brown hair was long a bit past her shoulders, bright stone-green eyes, and light peach skin that just made her eyes pop a small bit.

"You're not here to attack me are ya?"

"What do you mean attack you? I'm just here for a walk to let my thoughts sink through."

She quickly walked by me with a small hurt look on her face, so I followed after her wanting to know a bit more. Something about her had caught my interest.

"I thought that you were gonna attack me because other Socs are coming out for some party tonight to gang up on us Greasers. But you're not the only who is out for a walk tonight, cause I wanted to get out of the house for a little while. I've never seen you around before, betting you just moved here?"

"Yeah, with my aunt and cousin. We moved here a couple days ago, and my cousin decided to go out with some people. I'm not much of a fancy party girl here."

"So who are your aunt and cousin?"

"My cousin is named Juliet while my aunt is the new doctor here in town, Dr Joan Lanford. So who are you exactly?"

"I'm Ponyboy Curtis, ma'am. You never told me your name, mind if I know it since ya know mine?"

"Roselle Jules. My mother was French while my father is American, but I was born here in America. If you ever get the chance to go to France, take it. It's a beautiful country, even in the countryside. My mother took me there when I was very little, and I adored the countryside."

"Have you been there recently?"

"No, I haven't. I haven't been to France since I was ten years old. My parents died when I was ten, and that is when I was put under the custody of Aunt Joan. And under the same roof as my stupid cousin Juliet. And to let you know my cousin said for me to not talk to your type, but I really don't care if I talk to your type or not. She's not in charge of me, I'm in charge of her. Best that we part here, I don't want anyone to see me with you so trouble won't form and you get arrested."

I just nodded my head at her, and we parted paths. Looking back at her, she started to whistle the tune that I was whistling earlier. And I whistled it back to her, and we kept getting louder and louder till I started to laugh and I could her laughing too. I think I made a new friend.


	3. Chapter 3

I had been walking for at least fifteen minutes, when I heard a car speed down the street. I managed to hide quickly in a dark alleyway behind some trashcans, when I heard the car zooming on by. Just barely peaking out from behind the trashcans, I saw some beer bottles being thrown out of the car and landing on the ground, breaking into a thousand tiny pieces. The car turned on a corner and vanished from my sight. I didn't come out from behind the trashcans for a few minutes, until I thought it was safe to come out.

Picking up with my walk again, I kept my guard up at all cost. I was oblivious to my surrounds cause I was too darn focus on a Soc jumping me, that I didn't realize it that I had walked in a large circle to where I was in front of my house again. Letting out a sigh, I pushed open the gate and walked through the house doors, shoving the note I left for Soda in my pocket.

Soda was still sleeping in front of the TV, so I decided to let him stay there. Darry wouldn't care at all, cause as long the TV was off Soda or I can sleep in front of it, as long that we don't do it every night. Looking at Soda one more time, I remembered that he slept in front of the TV last night and that if Darry caught him there, he would through a fuss. So I shook him awake a small bit, to where his eyes opened up with a bit of fun and grogginess could be seen.

"You're not sleeping here Soda, cause you slept in front of the TV last night. Darry will skin ya for doing it two nights in a row, so come on. We need to go to bed."

"I don't wanna go to bed. I want to go out and find Darry. Ain't fair that he gets to get involved in a good brawl with the Socs and we don't, plus I want to check up on him. You game Pony?"

A small sigh escaped from my lips, and I held my hand out to Soda. He grasped it firmly, and I pulled him to his feet. Together, we both walked outside and walked around the streets trying to find the place where the others and Darry were at. It was so quiet out, to where only crickets could be heard.

Porch lights were flicked off, and so the only light we had was the light of the street lamps. I shoved my hands in my pocket since I didn't think about grabbing a jacket, so I continued on walking with Soda. There was a small snap of a twig, and a hand touched my shoulder. And both Soda and I, we yipped at the same time and we heard the laughter. Turning around, we saw Two-Bit Matthews on the ground laughing.

"Geez Two-Bit don't scare us like that! What ya do that for?"

"The looks on your faces! Priceless, you little runts! Gotcha back for making fun of me earlier! Should have looked at yourselves in a mirror!"

"Don't do that alright! You nearly gave me and Pony heart attacks, cause we thought you were a Soc with a whole gang of Socs behind him, here. Now come on, we're looking for the others, so you can join us or not. Come on Pony, we need to get moving. If he wants to come he can, but I'm not staying here watching him laugh until he dies from laughter."

I followed after Soda, but I kept my eyes on Two-Bit until he got up from the ground and chased after us. He pulled out his switchblade with a cloth, and kind of cleaned it as we looked up and down streets for the others. It wasn't until I was looking down one street when I saw Angela Shepard.

She had a bruise forming over her left eye, and there were good few cuts on her arms and her right cheek. She saw me staring at her and gave me a small smile, and waved me over. Smacking Two-Bit and Soda on their arms they looked in the direction that I was, and we headed over towards Angela.

"How are ya three boys doing?"

"Doing okay, Angela. Say where are the others?"

"My brothers went home, and I think your gang is still hanging out where the fight took place. We kept the fight away from the busy streets and neighbor areas so the police wouldn't come, and the Socs agreed on it. So no fuzz showed up at all, everyone's still alive but we're all just a bit bloody. Just head down this alley and make a right towards the park, that's where everyone else is at the moment. See you boys around."

The three of us took off running where the others were hanging out at still. By the time we reached them, we were out of breath and I saw Darry leaning up against a lamppost with a smoke between his lips. Running over to him, he wrapped an arm around each of our necks and pulled us close to him.

"Didn't I tell ya two to stay home?"

"We know Darry, but we couldn't help but worry. So we decided to set out to find ya guys."

"Well at least both you and Soda came here after the fight ended, cause if you two showed up during the fight it would have fueled the Socs to where they could kill us. Since that didn't happen, I'm not gonna lecture you two both this time. Now come on, lets head home and get some sleep. I don't have work tomorrow, but Soda you do. Now come on you little rascals, lets move out."

We waved good-bye to the others, and walked on home. By the time we got into the house, we had to throw Darry onto his bed as he nearly fell asleep walking through the living room. Closing his bedroom door, Soda and I went into ours and fell asleep on our bed. I wasn't sure on how long I slept at all, but I must have slept in for a long time cause when I woke up Darry was shaking me awake.

"Come on Pony, you're not staying in bed all day. I wish I could though, but I got to take care of you and Soda each day. Now come on, get out of bed."

He tried to pull me out of bed, but I kind of rolled over and fell onto the floor. I could hear him laughing a small bit at me, so I rolled over onto my back and sat up. Looking up at him with groggy eyes, he just rolled his at me.

"When I said get out of bed I don't mean roll out of bed, stupid. Now come on, there's lots of food for breakfast. Grab whatever you want and eat, I'm not letting you starve. And to let you know everyone else is here too, so change into some fresh clothes."

Darry left my room after that, and I got up onto my feet and changed into some fresh clothes and headed out of my room. The TV was on playing another John Wayne movie, so I headed into the kitchen and grabbed myself a bowl of cereal. Walking back out to the living room, I sat down on the floor and listen to Two-Bit and Steve Randle arguing with each other. I had no idea what they were arguing about cause I wasn't paying too much attention to them. But I did hear something about who had the better girl.

Good thing Soda isn't here, cause he would be crying about Sandy and how she left him for Florida and didn't return his love for her. So I just rolled my eyes at the two of them.

"So Pony, what are you gonna do for the summer?"

"No idea Steve, today is just the first day of summer vacation so I don't know exactly how to plan things out. Though I don't think Darry would want me to stay in the house all of the time, so if you guys aren't busy I'll hang out with you and have some fun."

Steve just nodded his head at me, and I kind of relaxed a small bit. The movie we were watching was called the Flying Tigers. It's all about Capt. Jim Gordon and his fighter plane group heading in China who recruited an old hotshot friend into the group. It was made back in 1942, so I've seen it a couple of times but I haven't really pay attention to it. Getting up from the wood floor, I walked to the kitchen and put my bowl in the sink.

There was quite a bit of laughter in the living room, so when I walked out there Steve was on the ground with Two-Bit on top of him, both of them trying to wrestle with each other. I kind of laughed a small bit, and when the two of them looked up at me, they jumped to their feet and pulled me down to the ground and I was wrestling to break free from the both of them.

"Hey! None of that here alright? If you three wanna wrestle, do it outside where you can't break anything valuable. Now come on, outside to wrestle if you want."

Two-Bit picked me up by my waist and carried me outside while I struggled to get out of his grip. Once he stepped onto the grass, he fell to the ground and started to wrestle with me once more. It must have been about five or six minutes into the wrestle match we were having, when he stopped and his eyes were looking off in a completely different direction.

"Well, well a Soc is at the gate. Now that is new, don't ya think Pony?"

Looking in the direction that Two-Bit was staring in, and I saw the girl with her arms gently resting on the link fence, her eyes just green eyes watching us. I saw her red hair flowing in the small gust of wind, and I could see the fear forming in her eyes. Cherry was here.

Two-Bit got off of me instantly, and he pulled me up to my feet. Looking behind her, I saw a black corvette and another girl came out of the car. It was Roselle Jules.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey Cherry, what brings you to this neck of the woods? I've never seen you come down here before."

"Look Ponyboy, the boys on my side of town they want a rematch. They'll play by your rules, meaning no weapons this time. It's going to be next week Friday, during the late evening hours. Some of the Socs said that no one should tell you Greasers, but I can't keep a secret like this from you guys. I had Rose drive me over, since she knows this end of the woods a bit better than I do."

"Thanks for the heads up Cherry, we'll be on guard till the fight. Is there anything else that we should know or at least do for you?"

"No, I think that's it for now Pony, if there is anything else I will let you know or Rose will. I should be going now Pony, the Socs don't know that I've told you Greasers yet. And they don't know that it was Rose who drove me here."

"Don't you want to introduce to Rose here?"

"Not unless she wants too, but I can't decide for her. She decides for herself, and doesn't let anyone else decide for her. I think she is more like you Greasers than she is of us Socs. If you got to know her, you'll see. Bye Pony."

Cherry gave me a small wave good bye, and got into the black corvette. Roselle stared at us guys for a few minutes, flashed us a small grin and got into the car. It gave off a beautiful purr, and we all watch it drove off. Two-Bit gave off a low whistle a moment later, and he fell down onto the ground. I playfully gave him a small kick in the side, in which he responded to pulling me down to the ground and started to wrestle with me again.

Darry came out a few moments later, and broke up our little match. I saw him lift Two-Bit over his shoulder, and slammed him down onto the dirt ground. He kept an elbow on the area where his arm was connected to his shoulder, and each of us were chanting for the other to win this round. And in the end, Darry proved to be the victor.

Soda and I, we bounced over at Darry and brought him down to the ground just after he got to his feet. He struggled to get us off of him, but against us on top of him he didn't have much of a chance.

"Alright you two, enough already! Good grief, no one told me this match was two against one here. Now get off me, before you two get knuckles in your mouth."

Soda and I scrambled off of Darry in an instant, without any objections. Darry's face grew a bit serious the next moment, and I had the feeling that he was going to question all of us. And when he asked questions, he wants answers for each and every single one of them.

"So who came by out house? And what did they tell you guys?"

"Just two Socs name Cherry and Roselle, Darry. They gave us some info for a rematch next week Friday. The Socs said they'll play by our rules."

"And was that one girl Roselle hot? Right Soda?"

"Ah shut it Steve! You don't know a hot girl until you slept with her."

Steve playfully punched at Soda, and Soda playfully punched him back. Good grief, those two sure know how to mess around with each other's brains.

"Knock if off Steve, you too Soda. Next time a Soc comes up to our house and I'm home, come and get me. Use your heads guys."

Darry got off of the ground and he walked back into the house. I rolled me eyes for a moment behind his back, we may have gotten on better terms now but something's still have yet to change with Darry. Soda and Steve soon headed off to work minutes later, and Two-bit sat down on the porch lighting up a cigarette in his mouth. Soon, I headed inside the house myself.

Darry had already made himself comfortable on his armchair with a newspaper in his hand, all the while listening to the news on the TV. I stationed myself on the couch and stared at the TV for a while, it was nothing interesting, but it gave me something to do for this now rather slow morning. Closing my eyes for a moment, I drifted off to sleep for a while.

I thought back to a while back when I got really sick after Johnny, Dally and I came back home after rescuing those little kids from this church. I think I do recall calling out for Darry now, but it still feels like a dream to me calling for Darry. But there was something deep down inside me telling me that, calling out for Darry while I was sick in the hospital was just the beginning of us bonding.

"Hey Pony, come on time to wake up you little knuckle head. You've been asleep for two whole hours now, maybe I should have let you sleep in today."

I groaned a small bit at Darry who had woken me up from my sleep, so I stretched out a small bit on the couch, but our eyes kept a lock on each other.

"Come on, little buddy, grab a light jacket and lets go somewhere for a bit. We're not going to stay in the house all day long, that's not how you're going to live your summer vacation all locked up in the house."

Getting off of the couch, I headed to mine and Soda's room and grabbed the lightest jacket that I could find. Once I had it, I ran out of the house to catch up to Darry who was waiting at the gate of our house fence. He had his palms on the fence, and he easily lifted himself up to where he flipped over it and landed on his feet perfectly. Even after years of not taking anymore gymnastic lessons, he still is pretty good at it. I jumped over the fence myself, and we both walked off into town.

I still remembered when Darry I would walk into town together not too far back before I took off with Johnny to the church in Windrixville. There would always be a coldness coming from him when we walked together, but this walk it was different. There was a warmth to it as we kind of goofed off with each other, and it was pretty much fun. And this walk was pretty cool, cause I was bonding with Darry and he was bonding with me in return.

As we came into the business area of the town, our path crossed with Randy, who had walked out of a diner with Marcia by his side. He saw me and Darry, and just nodded at the two of us. I threw him a nod back. Marcia flashed us both a smile, and tugged on Randy's arm, pulling him across the street. I laughed at the both of them as Randy was telling Marcia to slow down and to look out for the cars.

"So what do you want to do Pony? The theatre might be packed right now, so it would be best to grab a later movie. Whatever you want to do, we can do it."

"How about bother Soda and Steve at the GX Gas Station? Pretty sure we can gang up on the two of them and get some laughs too, while all of the girls scream and cheer for Soda and Steve to win."

"Swear you hang around Soda too much Pony, cause you nearly sounded like him at that moment. But hey, if it's something fun, then lets do it. Then maybe later we can pass by the lot and play some football."

"Sounds like a good plan Darry, maybe we can invite Two-Bit and maybe Curly to join in the game with us, so it could be two on two."

"Ah that rights, Curly got out of the reformatory early for good behavior and managed to stay clean for a while. Maybe we can throw him a few kicks in the rear for getting into reformatory and not being able to help us in the rumble."

"That would be cool to do on him. Lets do it, but lets make sure that he won't tell Tim. Cause if he does, Tim will have our heads."

"Relax, Tim wanted him in the rumble too, pretty sure he will kick his little butt for not being there."

We kind of laughed as we walked to the DX station, where Soda and Steve were working away at. For a while, we kind of hung back until I got splashed with some water from a hose by Soda. I chased him around a bit, as girls cheered us on to take the other down until we both fell to the ground exhausted and wet from trying to get the other with water. If today got any more better, that would be. . . . Pretty nice if you ask me.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey Pony, can you hand me that wrench there, by your left hand?"

"Sure Steve, catch."

I threw the wrench at Steve, and he easily caught it in his right hand. He nodded his head in thanks at me, as he went back to fixing that engine on the car he was working on.

It has been a bit over two hours since Darry and I came here, and we all kind of laughed and had fun. Soda made a bunch of wise crack jokes to all of the girls, and it got them all laughing and it kind of turned the romance button on in them. And I rolled my eyes at this. I still have yet to grow out my phase where I didn't want to fall in love with a girl.

"Say Darry, why don't you ever hang out with a girl on your days off?"

"Soda, you know I'm too busy watching over all of you babies that I hang

out with to hang out with a girl. Someone has to make sure that all of ya babies stay in line."

"Come on now Darry, no need to call us babies in front of the girls here. That's embarrassing. Don't you agree with me, Pony?"

"Gonna agree with Darry here, Soda. We do need a lot of supervision from Darry here, if you ask me."

Steve broke out laughing, and Soda threw at a greasy towel in his face. He whipped it off his face in a blink of an eye, and threw some grease at Soda. It splatter on Soda's face, and he just blinked in a bit of a surprise at Steve, and soon broke out laughing. It's hard for Steve and Soda to get mad at each forever, cause in the end of their little battle they would laugh out loud and mess around with each other.

Another car rolled up soon enough, and I saw a blond female step out of the car. Her hair was long and it gleamed in sunlight making a bit of a halo like an angel around her; her skin was lightly tan as though she had been at a beach every single day, and her lips were bright red as a cherry pop. She wore black jeans that reached down to her knees, white flip flops that had a two inch tall wedge and a black and white striped tank top on. And looking at her eyes, they were green as the grass in spring.

Soda and Steve let out a low whistle, and I could hear a few girls starting to gossip about her and I heard a few words of 'pretty', 'where does she buy her clothes?' and 'I wonder if she let me borrow some of her clothes.' As for me, I rolled my eyes and looked away from her. There was the slamming of another car door, and I Roselle stepping out of the same car, with a bit of an annoyed face on.

The blond girl came over to us, and all kind of got a bit defensive. She gave us a pleasant smile, and played around with the keys a small bit.

"Can you guys fix up the car a bit? Its kind of scratch up a bit, and her aunt is going to kill her for having it all scratched up."

"Kill me? Juliet, your getting the story wrong again. I wasn't the one driving this time, idiot. Get your heads out of the clouds for once, and look at reality. I'm never this careless with a good car like this, unlike you, that's why Aunt Joan lets me drive it when you need to go somewhere. She doesn't trust you driving it, yet you go behind her back and drive it anyway."

"Oh just shut up and take my side for once on this stuff for once? At least I'm coming to a station to get it fixed. And plus there are some cute boys here too."

"Juliet, you know the rule that Aunt Joan put on us both, you got to be eighteen to date someone, and you're not eighteen, but I am."

Juliet groan a small bit, while Roselle rolled her eyes at her. Her eyes crossed my path, and she walked over to me to get away from Juliet as she talked with Soda to see how bad the damage was on the car.

"Hey Pony, how are you doing today?"

"Pretty good for myself, what about you?"

"I'm okay for now. Sorry if I didn't say anything to you guys at all. I was kind of almost ready to explode cause Juliet pulled a stupid trick on me this morning, and I didn't want to let it out on anyone."

"That's why you gave Cherry the drive to my place?"

"More or less, she also managed to calm me down and we talked about it. She even told me how you're a good kid Pony, to let you know. And who is this man standing right next to you? I don't think we had the pleasure of introducing ourselves to each other now?"

"This is Darry, mine and Soda's older brother. He watches over the both of us, ever since our parents died."

"Full name is Darrell Curtis Jr., but everyone just calls me Darry for short. And I already know your name, Roselle, cause I heard you were with Cherry this morning at our house. I caught a small glimpse of you just before you got into your car and along with Cherry."

"Well then, you're very observant Darry. None of the Socs still have to learn that I gave Cherry the ride to your place, and nor do they know that I'm siding with you on this fight. I don't care much about the Socs, I think it's time that someone shows them where the line is and to make them grow up and take on responsibility. I'm sick and tired of them getting away with things that they shouldn't get away with, time to cut the head off of their freedom."

I could feel my eyes widen at her words, and when I looked at Darry his mouth was hanging open a small bit. Reaching up, I closed it with my hand and he swatted my hand away within that very minute.

"Never have we heard a Soc wanting to join our side on this."

She kind of frowned at the word Soc, and the words of what Cherry said to me about Rose kind of snapped in my head.

"You're really not a true Soc are ya, Roselle? Cherry said that you decide for yourself and ya don't let anyone else decide for you. You hate the Socs that much, do ya? So if you hate the Socs as much as we do, that makes you a Greaser just like me, Soda, Darry and the rest of our friends."

"Guess I'm not alone on hating the Socs here. Listen, don't tell anyone that I am not a Soc alright? My Aunt Joan, she expects me to have a good behavior and to be a bit preppy and kind of act like a rich girl just like her daughter, my cousin Juliet, here does. I'm sick and tired of acting like a Soc, it's driving me insane. I just want to stop acting for once, let everyone know who I truly am. Cherry, she's the first to know and now you guys know. Can you keep it a secret until the rumble for me, please?"

The wind rustled her hair a small bit, and I could see her pleading with her eyes at the two of us. Looking up at Darry, he nodded at his head at Roselle.

"Sure, we'll keep it a secret for you Roselle. No need to worry, I'll make sure Pony doesn't go and spill the beans to everyone else here."

"Thanks you guys, I've got to go now. Got to beat Juliet back home before she can lie to Aunt Joan about what really happened to the car. See ya later."

"Later Roselle, see you around sometimes in town."

Darry just stayed quiet as he shook her hand, and we both watch her go off. Looking up at Darry, I could have sworn that I started to see a small grin forming on his face, and I raised an eyebrow at him. I heard Juliet leave to catch up with Roselle, and he kind of relaxed a small bit once he knew it was just us Greasers here now. Steve nudged Soda a small bit once he saw the look on Darry's face, and as for Soda, he got real excited from looking at Darry's face.

"Hey Soda, Darry has that look on his face like you do when ya fall in love with a girl."

"Yeah, he does Steve. Does Darry have a girlfriend now that we don't know about? Oh, wait until the others here about this!"

"You two shut your traps already, will ya? I don't have a girlfriend and nor am I falling in love with any girl here. Now why don't ya two get back to work and stop goofing off already? Come on Pony, lets go and gang up on Curly in a game of football."

"Kick Curly in the head for me and Steve, kay Darry, Pony?"

"Sure thing, Soda, nice and hard too."

"Yeah, hard enough where Tim is cursing at him for being stupid enough to play with us two all by himself."

I could hear Soda and Steve laughing as I followed after Darry to the Shepard's house, and we kind of stayed quiet. Looking up at Darry, he had that stone cold look in his eyes, and I bit my lower lip. I could feel a cold chill running down my spin, and I wasn't like this one bit. I'm gonna have to break the ice here, to get him to talk.


	6. Chapter 6

The two of us walked in silence for a few moments longer, and I took notice that we were taking the long route and a couple of detours to reach the Shepard's place. If we were taking a long route like this, that meant Darry needed a while to cool off before talking to anyone. So I kept my mouth shut for a while longer.

Rubbing the back of my head, I kind of began to whistle a low tune. A Soc's car or two went by us and we could hear some shouting about how they're going to beat us up soon. And once they passed by, I glanced up at Darry and he looked down at me. Giving me a cocky grin, I gave one back in return.

Boy were the Soc's going to get a surprise on Friday.

But Darry's cocky grin soon faded off of his face, and he kept walking in silence. I stopped to stare at the bright blue sky above me, and wondering if any clouds were going to come on by and ruin the blue. Snapping out from looking upon the sky, I ran to catch up with Darry as quickly as I could.

"Darry! Why did you get so angry at Soda and Steve for teasing ya about a girl? I mean, it's just teasing no real harm right?"

"Pony, if you ever get into a position like me, you got to realize that there are things that you can have, and you can't have. Sometimes, you got to learn how to deal with not having one thing and knowing you want it. You get me on this?"

I raised an eyebrow at him in confusion of his words. Sometimes I don't get the lessons that he is trying to tell me at all, but other times I do get them.

"Don't worry about it for now, Pony. Now come on, I bet Tim we can surprise him and his brother. Now, don't bring this up again okay?"

I simply nodded my head at Darry, and we both raced off to the Shepard's house. I pulled ahead of him multiple times, but he managed to keep up with me for a good while. I accidentally slammed into him as we both rounded the same corner at the same time, and we tumbled on the concrete. Darry moaned a small bit, and I kind of broke out into a small laugh over this. Looking at Darry, he playfully pushed my head to look at something else.

I felt a hand grab mine and I was pulled to my feet by Curly Shepard. Looking over at Darry, Tim was helping him up to his feet.

"Good grief, you two! Now why did ya both go and race down tight corners? God. . . idiots."

"Usually you curse Tim, why ain't ya?"

"Angela betted me and Curly last night, that we can't go a week without cursing at all. That. . . of a girl. She sure has ways to get us boys to do what she wants. So what brings you down here to this neck of the woods?"

"Hoping to gang up on Curly in a gang of football."

"Not playing against you two. I always get beat in football, when I go against someone as fast as you Pony."

"Aw, come one now Curly. We'll let you have Tim on your team. And it's just for fun, not any real competition here."

"Alright, two rounds that's it. You in Tim?"

"Lets do this."

Darry had that grin on that looked as though he was going to kill Tim or Curly. Rolling my eyes, Curly took off to his house for the football, while Darry and Tim pointed out where the boundaries for a touchdown will be. Once Curly was back, Tim told him the touchdown spots were and that to win one round each team needed to make four points. Soon the game was on.

Throughout the whole game, we did more slamming, stealing the ball, and running from the other than making the touchdowns. As round two began, other greasers soon joined the game with us and we were just trying basically beating each other up through the whole round to see which side can make the four points. Right in the middle of the game, Angela came out and grabbed the ball out of Curly's hands and walked towards the house. Looking at Tim, the expression on his face looked as though Angela was now dead to him.

"Get the ball!"

We all ran towards Angela, till she spun around and threw the ball. I watched where the ball had gone. And it hit one of the Tim Shepard's greaser friends right in the nose. And right there, everything became still as ever as some of the other Shepard Gang members checked up on their friend. One of the members, with long black hair pulled back, dark brown eyes that never seem to blink, and skin tan almost like the ground looked over towards Angela.

"Geez Ang, think you broke his nose!"

The guy that got the broken nose, which appeared bloodier than I thought, stared at Angela. Soon he king of broke out laughing, and clapped his hands a small bit.

"We get Angie here to play football next time, with us. This girl knows how to throw a ball, better than you bunch of girls."

Soon we were all laughing a small bit, and Angela joined in as Tim ruffled up her hair. We all kind of talked for a bit and hung out, and after a good half hour I heard someone talking about the Socs. Looking over at Darry, I gave him the look that kind of told him about the upcoming rumble and he let out a loud whistle. Everyone grew quiet, and I watched Darry get up on top of a car.

"Those stupid Socs want a rematch with us with this upcoming Friday! And they didn't even bother to even tell us at all. But we, Curtis Gang, we got two spies in the Soc's, now we're not going to put their names out cause we want to protect them. Now I say we give those Soc's hell this Friday and we watch our backs till then! And they're going to play by our rules of now weapons and those sorts, and if I see anyone with one on the day of the rumble, my fists are going to be talking to ya. Now we need to get ready, we only have a week here till the fight."

He did a back flip off the car, and managed to land on his feet. Walking over to me, he put a shoulder around my shoulders.

"Come on, Pony let's go home."

The two of us walked off in silence, but I think today was a good day between Darry and I. We've improved much now, and we barely argue anymore which pleases Soda even more now.

The Saturday passed by quickly, and so did the next few days till Tuesday came around the corner. That morning, everything felt like it was ready to blow up on all of us, and no one quite felt like doing anything fun and exciting today. For me, I decided to go out on a walk and clear my head out for a small bit.

But this led me into trouble with a group of Soc's.


	7. Chapter 7

It had been raining all day long when I was walking down the road that led to and from the movie place. There was no one here, so it was me alone or so I had thought. Guess I still don't use my head here.

Two cars came driving by me quickly, and I knew within an instant that they belonged to Soc's. The two cars quickly came to a stop, and about four or five Soc's each came out of the car and almost made a full circle around me. In a split second, I was half ways up a fence and I threw myself over the top. Call me a coward, but I don't want to end up dead here.

My body hit the ground, but I rushed myself to my feet and took off running. Taking a small glance behind me, four Soc's were on foot and the cars were gone. Pushing myself a bit harder, I turned at multiple corners till I was shoved to the ground and a blade was put at my throat.

"Who told ya Greaser's about Friday? Ya better answer me before I give you that haircut at the throat that you needed!"

"I don't know, I swear! I heard it from someone talking about it a few days ago. I swear!"

I felt a fist go against my face, and then a few more punches came along. But the knife was still at my throat. Barely opening my eyes, I felt a fist hit my eye and I must have shrieked or something cause they laughed at my pain. I kept my eyes shut for the longest while, as more fists and some kicks came crashing down on me. But I think I fought back, because a couple of them began to curse at me.

All of a sudden, a cold breeze came over me and I heard someone say something about a car door. Over the next few minutes, the knife pressure was gone and everything grew quiet as a car engine began to die down.

There was small thud on the dirt, and when I opened my eyes I saw Randy Adderson lying down on the ground. He let out a huff of air, and handed me a cigarette.

"Thanks Randy. I owe you."

"No problem, Pony. You're someone I can respect here. Wish all the others could be like you."

"Yeah, then there wouldn't be any fighting no more."

We lay there on the ground for a good while till our cigarettes burned out and we began to run out of things to talk about. Dusk was soon settling in, and Randy pulled me off of the ground. He let me sit in his car as he drove me down to my street. Stopping at the corner, I could tell that he was going to say something to me.

"What's wrong Randy?"

"I covered for your little spies, Pony. Look I know one of them is new girl Roselle, but the other I don't know who that is. So keep that second person a secret, so that person can stay safe."

"How did you know Roselle is one of our spies?"

"Came by her house one day, and she was one the phone with someone. A Tim Shepard I think? Anyways, she told him all the stuff that the Soc's were planning to do to you Greasers so you couldn't even fight on Friday. Pony, look, this is going to be a war soon enough somehow and it ain't going to end well or be pretty here. Just try to stay on guard with your pals till Friday, okay?"

"Will do Randy, and thanks for covering Rose. You're a cool guy in my books."

He simply gave me a small head nod, as I got out of his car and walked down the street to my house. Whistling a small bit, someone soon joined in and I saw Rose step out of a shadow. She gave me a small nod and we walked in quiet for a second.

"So who was that?"

"Randy Adderson, he's not a Soc nor a Greaser. Told me that you've been talking to Tim Shepard lately."

"Yeah, and going down to his house. Been learning how to fight from him, Curly and Ange. I'm getting ready to join you guys on the fight that will happen in a few days. What happened to you?"

"Got jumped by a bunch of Socs a while ago."

She pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket, and cleaned my face off a bit. She mumbled about a small cut on my throat, and glared at me for a small second. I kind of swatted her hand away, and she eventually gave up.

"Your brothers are going to kill ya for looking like this."

"Darry doesn't get home till around seven tonight. Soda, he'll just be curious but won't say a word. Do you want to come inside, Rose?"

"That is if Soda will allow it. I mean if he does, then I'll come on. I won't barge in or anything."

"Nah it's cool, I mean you're a friend of mine. Plus all of us greasers, if we need a place to crash somewhere the door is always wide open, just don't slam the door if you plan to crash here sometime."

She shyly followed in after me, and she peeled off her jacket and hanged it up on a hook. For a while, things were a bit awkward but Soda managed to break the ice on everything by acting like his cheerful self and making us break out in laughter. We lost track of time, cause Rose was still here when Darry came home. Once Darry had begun to make dinner, Rose was in the kitchen talking to him and trying to assist him the best that she could. She called it hospitality, and she said that her mother would always try to assist the host in some way.

Rose soon left us by the time dinner was almost done, and right before the downpour of rain began. A small thought twitched in the back of my mind about something, but I couldn't figure it out at the moment. So I ignored it, and figured out that it might hit me hard in the head after dinner.

"Now don't forget, tomorrow's laundry. I want it all done by Thursday, no day after that. But don't wash your leather, it'll get ruined. And Pony, make sure your jean jacket get washed too. It didn't last time."

"Aw, dang it!"

I shot out of my chair and ran over to the hooks that the jackets always hung up on. Pulling off Darry's, I took Rose's off the hook and stared at our door. Soda came up to me too and murmured under his breath that we were idiots for covering up her jacket. Darry soon reached us, and he began a small interrogation.

"Alright, whose jacket it that?"

"It's Rose's, I put it on the hook then you put yours on top of it. It slipped all of our minds that it was even there when we were talking with Rose. Know where she lives, so we can drop it at her place?"

"I know her aunt works at the hospital here in town. I'm working on a roof across the street, so I can drop it off when I get to work."

I put the deep blue jean jacket down, and helped clean off the table. Once in a while, I catch Darry looking at the jacket for a split second, and I could have sworn his eyes were softening. Maybe because it was Rose. She must have reminded him of something and maybe became connected through it.

Wednesday, Darry wasn't able to drop off the jacket as Rose's aunt wasn't in that day. Nor was she in Thursday, so we decided to give it to Rose when we see her for the rumble. And by then, tension was already high up in the air. The whole town could feel it, and everyone was growing on edge.

Friday morning soon came, and hell broke loose that morning.


	8. Chapter 8

I was already up that Friday morning, while Soda and Darry slept in on their day off. Breakfast was already off the stove, when I heard the screen door slam shut, and someone falling onto the couch and some cursing filled the room. Heading out to the living room, I saw a girl with a couple of bruises and hair that looked recently cut, and Two-Bit sitting on the couch heavily bruised.

"Could have taken those Soc's out here with my blade! Didn't need a Soc to come save me."

"There was ten of them, and one of you! Do you think you would have won, idiot? They would have ya skinned in one minute flat!"

I recognized the voice, and instantly knew that it was Rose. What did I miss before I walked into the room?

"Go back to your kind, Soc! Don't need a bitch like you hanging around with us Greaser's and ruining our rep. So go play with your corvettes, and hook up with some guys and have a one night stand with them like your cousin. She's good at playing Prima Donna, unlike you."

By this time, Darry and Soda came out of their rooms and Steve had walked into the house. Darry wasn't look one bit happy at being woken up on his day off, and it made him forget things like putting a shirt on. Staring at Rose, she had a couple of gashes on her face and the blood was still dripping down.

"Don't tell me to be like my stupid air-head cousin here! I'll never be like her at all. I won't, I just won't! I don't care how many times I play the role of the Soc, I will never be one! I'll always know where the line is and know who I really am, even my parent's knew that! And they encouraged me to express my feeling and be who I am, damn it! So don't tell me to be a Soc like my cousin! I hate it when people tell me to be something I'm not!"

She was now leaning over Two-Bit, and her words had left my mouth dry. Darry slowly started to approach to pull her away from Two-Bit, but she already stepped away while rubbing her eyes.

"I slugged four Soc's; pulled a blade out them that I got from Tim; and cursed at my cousin for being artificial, dumb and not realizing how this world really worked. Its not all fun and games here, and I know that by fact. . . . My mom, she died in a hospital during surgery. . . bone fragments were being removed cause she got raped and was heavily assaulted. My dad, god, he was killed by his best friend who was drinking and driving one night. I was there . . . when they both died, and I don't want anymore here!"

I didn't realize that Soda had left the room, but he soon came back with a first aid kit and tried to tend Rose's wounds. But all she did was brush him away, he soon walked over to Steve and I joined in on tending to his wounds. For a while, we all stayed quiet and tried to let all of this sink in to our heads. Rose had slid down the wall, and Two-Bit stared at her for a moment. In a single moment, he acted like he was holding a gun and made some gun noises at Rose. She looked up from the ground and saw what he was doing, and a small grin started to break out onto her face.

"Sure do got a way with humor, Two-Bit."

"I'm the wisecracker of the group, here."

Darry managed to start cleaning up Rose's face and tried to stitch up her gashes. Once in a while, we all heard Rose moan out in pain and I kind of figured out that if she was ever injured she was always numbed up first. After a while, both she and Two-Bit were in a stupor like state so we didn't bother to move or disturb them in anyway.

Tim came bursting in through the door with two of his pals a couple of minutes later, and it woke Rose out of her stupor. We all felt his cold glare coming down upon us, but it was only Darry who shot Tim's down with his own.

"My house, my rules. What do ya want?"

"Got some info. Soc's caused a ruckus in town right in front of public, and police are questioning around. Some said they saw a Soc rescue a Greaser, which shocked everyone. Betting they're making their way here, and see if there is some more info about what happened in town. Not only that, but news is out on ya Rose, Soc's are pissed."

Rose mumbled a curse word under her breath or something like that, and got off of the floor. She looked really sick at this point, but angry at the same time. She staggered for a couple of seconds towards the door, and soon turned her head towards us.

"Best to not follow me."

And she was out of the door in a split second, before we could say a word. We turned our attention towards Tim, and gave him a questioning look from each of us.

"Those stupid Soc's and her cousin did this part, nothing else. They all know she's a Greaser now and not a Soc. She's going to kill Juliet, and I know she still has my knife on her. Yeesh, here for a couple of weeks and things are going down hill."

"What about Dr. Joan, Tim? Does she know any of this happening?"

"She got a call from a Randy Adderson, not long after Two-Bit was jumped. But look, things are going to be worse now at the rumble the rules are going to be broken. I've called other gangs and a couple others in a few other towns, they're going to be here soon."

Staring at Darry, my eyes darted towards the door and I nudge him in the ribs.

"Put a shirt on Darry, we need to go find Rose. Cause if she has the knife on her, she's literally going to kill Juliet."

Darry dashed of quickly and was gone for a minute or two, but he quickly came back tugging on shoes just as Soda and I finished putting ours on. With a quick burst of energy, we all ran out of the house and separated into every direction that we could of think of that Rose would have took.

For a long while, we kept crossing paths and checking just about every street that we could think of. I soon heard Soda yelling and causing a bit of ruckus not far from me, and I headed off towards his direction. Seeing the park and Soda, I joined his side and we both ran towards a small fight that was happening. I skidded to a stop and yanked Soda back.

"What was that for?"

"Don't ya hear the sirens? Come on, we can't do anything Soda! If we do, we'll be put into a boys home."

And I did not want to be separated from Darry or Soda, nor my home and all of my friends.

We started to back away just as a police officer came up behind us.

"Know what's going on?"

I kept my mouth shut, and Soda spoke for the both of us.

"Not exactly, but we do know that it's not going to end well. Bunch of Socs jumped our pal, and figured out who was the spy in their group. Now they're doing a beating."

"Thanks for the info."

He took off running and a few other officers joined in, and separated up the whole group. Rose backed away, and held her hands up in the air open while other Socs tried to charge at her. After a while, the rest of our pals joined our side and we watched the whole scene unfold. Looking at Rose, she didn't have her jacket on and I saw it lying on a bench near us.

She didn't use the knife; she went with just bare hands.

An officer came over to inspect the jacket, and he pulled out a knife that was in one of the pockets. Staring at us, he raised a simple eyebrow and Tim stepped forward.

"That knife is mine, let a girl borrow it for defense. She left it there, so that no one would end up dead here."

He just nodded his head, and we all stared at Tim. Right after the officer was a good distance away, Tim slowly spoke to us.

"Not letting a girl like her get thrown into jail or get death penalty. At most, they'll charge her for beating up some guys. Everyone else, to hell with them. Plus we know she's a Greaser, so we got to watch her back like she's been watching ours."


	9. Chapter 9

We waited a long time at the police station, along with a bunch of parents. We told that them that a friend was here with their kids, and to try and keep everyone separated so another fight won't happen. I think that got us on the parents good side for the most part, but when their kids came out they started to shout at us greasers with words that might have shocked their parents. Us greasers, we kept our mouths shut real good.

A doctor soon stepped out with Rose and Juliet on either side of her, and it hit me in the head that it was Dr. Joan Lamont. Her blond hair was tied up in a bun, but the gray streaks were visible. Her eyes were green like Rose's, but at most a shade darker and much colder. She approached us with caution, but Darry was the one who stood up and held his hand out to her. I watched her grasp it with hesitation.

"Ma'am, sorry that this caused a large mess and dragged you from work. We didn't think that this could happen."

"What can you expect from girls? These two, I'm use to their war. Rose has tried to settle it for years, but Jules won't have peace for an answer. She always said, one needs to prove whose more dominant than the other but Rose always comes out on top at the end, and she's not like Juliet, more like her dad and a bit of her mother. But at the moment, I just. . . it's reach a whole new stage now."

"Cause now both girls have people to back them up."

"Correct."

She motioned Juliet and Rose towards two different sides of the room, and the both listened to her command. My eyes followed Rose, but soon darted back to the conversation between Dr. Lamont and Darry.

"Listen all of you, after Rose was born her mother had hoped that she would have been a fool to the world but of course that never happened. She's no fool, not even living up in New York City when things were tough to no end on the streets. I don't know what happened to her up in New York City, cause she never said anything. But she did talk about a Dallas Winston a couple of times, but nothing more."

She didn't see our pale faces as she called out Juliet and Rose's names, as she walked away from us. Looking at everyone here, it was still a large sore in our hearts to hear his name still with Johnny's. Letting out a deep breath, Darry put a hand on mine and Soda's shoulder and we all left the police building.

The walk home, we all stayed quiet and the morning droned on into the late afternoon. I lazed around the house for most of the day, watching TV or reading a book. The only time that I went outside was because Soda offered to buy me a Pepsi and to play football with him.

But the main thing as to why things were like this was because all of the buzz that had us all excited was about dead. I don't think very many of us now wanted to go to the fight that was going to take place tonight. But what choice do we have, the Socs wanted a rematch and who were we to say no to them? We greasers, we don't ever back down from a Soc.

By nightfall, we were all about ready to leave and head down to the lot where the Socs had begun to form up at. Just as I slipped my jacket on, there was a small knock on our door and I was the one to answer. Right in front of me stood Cherry.

"Hi Pony."

"Oh, hey Cherry. You going to watch the fight?"

"Not really, maybe I'll stay for the first few minutes, but I'll probably once it starts to get rough, and I'll come back in the end when the action starts to die down."

"Oh, okay. So how are things going for you so far?"

"Okay I guess, listen I heard what Dr. Lamont said to you guys at the station today. About Dally, I'm still feeling sorry for you guys that he died."

"Still a wound on our hearts, but hey we feel emotions that Socs don't feel. Like you said, you guys don't feel anything cause that's how cool you are."

She laughed a small bit at the words, and I kind of gave her a grin.

"I did say that didn't I, guess after a while words from long ago seem so funny now. To let you know, when you and Johnny ran off for that whole week Dally was the only person I could really talk to out of all your friends here. Gosh, he acted like he was a Soc but then he exploded into his greaser and I just had to laugh."

She really did fall in love with him. I opened the door up to her, and she walked into the living room still talking to me.

"But when I heard that he died that night, god I broke down in tears. Sure I was mean to him at first and that stuff, but that was because I thought he was. . . but that doesn't matter anymore now and it won't ever."

"Yeah, that's the past now and we can only look forward to the future and look back at the past and not make the same mistakes."

"Yeah, we can only move forward now and we can't ever go back. . . though I wish I could go back now and did things differently when he began to talk to me."

"So when you and Dally met during the week I was gone, what happened?"

"A lot Pony. I stayed away from the Socs for a whole day, and hung out with Dally. He took me for a joy ride, and we went as far as towards the Texas border I think, god I never seen so much scenery like that before. It was beautiful. My parents didn't questioned who I was out with that night when I came home, nor did the ask me if anything happened."

I felt my eyebrows rising up on my forehead at her, and she saw my expression.

"Nothing like that Pony, maybe there was a small kiss or something along that term, but nothing too drastic. He didn't push me to do anything with him that most Soc girls would have love to do."

She stared out the door, and then turned her attention back to me.

"I need to get back before they come down here, break in to your house and drag me out Pony. Good luck with the fight."

She gave me a quick hug, and soon went out the door. Darry and Soda soon came out of their rooms, and gave me a small nod. Just moments after Cherry left, we walked out of our house and down towards the lot.

Other greasers, from our town and a few other towns joined us. I counted how many greasers there were, and I took note that there was at least thirty-two or thirty-five of us. Once I saw the Soc's, I quickly counted and there was at least twenty-nine or thirty-one of them. They were outnumbered.

One of the Socs called out to us, and it held our attention.

"Hey Greasers! If ya got weapons, put them far away from here. Still going by your rules, so no weapons or that sort here. Except shortbread there, he looks as though he could use a knife to help fight."

A few Socs laughed at his words, but I kept my cool as I talked back to him.

"I use a knife, so do my pals here. Then you'll want a knife here too, Soc. So I'm sticking by the rules."

Curly came up to my side, and tapped my shoulder.

"I'll help ya slug some of them Pony. So you're not alone."

"Thanks, Curly."

Soon some more insults and puns about everyone were being thrown around from both sides, and I just stayed quiet. I think I heard a few about me, but I didn't care about it at all. Paul Holden soon stepped forward and so did Darry. Just like the fight on the night that Johnny died.

They slowly circled each other, and Paul was soon flanked by two other Socs. Tim stepped out behind Darry, and I soon saw Rose get behind Tim. A few Socs raised their eyes at the sight of Rose, and with us greasers too. For most of the day, we thought that Rose wasn't going to be in the fight.

"So little Rosie snuck out from under her auntie to have a little black eye or bloody nose?"

"Sorry to burst your bubble Holden, but auntie let me off the hook. Juliet, she still behind bars at home."

So Juliet was Paul's girl here.

Paul jumped at towards Darry, and so did his two flankers. But Tim and Rose had those two down in the ground and were pounding them into the concrete. Both sides began to pour over each other, and everyone began to take the other down.

Curly and I must have beaten up three or four Socs, before we began to run out of steam inside us. A Soc ran me down to the ground, and almost slammed my face into the concrete before Soda jumped him and rolled him away from me. And I heard him call Soda a spider monkey or something.

Getting back up onto my fight, I swung my fists at a couple of Socs while they were distracted and continued on fighting. I wasn't sure on how long the fight had lasted, but soon enough I saw some Socs taking off. But the fight still continued.

There was still a lot of Socs left here still, and so far they were barely giving up the fight. And I began to panic a small bit at the thought that, maybe this fight was the one where one side would permanently rule over the other group for the years to come. Heading towards the center, I saw Darry do a back flip over a Soc, and tackled him down to the ground. Running over, I grasped the Soc's arms before he grab Darry off of him. Soda soon joined in and pounded him like crazy.

Soon Holden, a Soc guy that I didn't know of and Juliet charged at us and took us Curtis's down. I had no idea when Juliet got here, but she was sure mad.

I coughed up some dirt, and stared at them. Holden had a cocky look on his face, and he wrapped an arm around Juliet. All around us, everything grew quiet and the attention was here on the center. My heart was racing inside of me, and I rose to my feet along with Soda and Darry.

"Thought you were still behind bars at home, Juliet?"

"Sorry kiddo, but auntie got called in. So I was able to get out of the house without her even knowing. Now let's settle this score once and for all. Us Soc's, we're the dictating group here while you guys are just pieces of scum that cling on the bottoms of our shoes."

"Then I guess I'm one too, Juliet, and we live under the same house."

Rose stood right behind Darry when she said those words. Tim and Curly came right up next to her along with Two-Bit, Steve, the Brumly Guys, and the rest of the greasers. The Socs began to back away from this, and I could feel myself grinning with a bit of victory upon my face.

"Oh come on you cowards! Ya going to let a bunch of greaser's, hoods, claim victory over us? We're worth more than they ever will here! So suck up your fear and shove it in the back of your head, and get back here. We're going to win this fight once and for all, with no going back."

I stared at Juliet like she was crazy, but Paul didn't even bother to look at her even calm her down somewhat. Darry was about to step forward, but Rose got in front of him.

"Let me handle my cousin, guys. It's time that we settle our dispute once and for all."

All Juliet did was laugh at Rose, and I knew that she was more power hungry than crazy. The conversation from earlier from Dr. Lamont soon hit me in the head, cause she said there something about a fight for dominance. Rose was going to end it, but Juliet she wanted to keep the fire burning till Rose fell to her knee's and swearing to Juliet that she will obey her.


	10. Chapter 10

Rose kept herself planted in one spot, a muscle not even moving at all. Juliet, she moved ever so slightly wanting to launch herself at her cousin and I knew she was growing frustrated at this point.

Rose closed her eyes just as Juliet came running towards her. Rose dove at the ground, tripping Juliet in the process and we watch them ensue the small fight. Juliet kept on trying to take Rose down over and over again, hitting, kicking, and trying other methods to bring Rose down to the ground. But Rose, she stayed ever calm and withstood all of the blows that Juliet was giving her.

"Rose is trying to wear Juliet down!"

I stared at Soda for a small moment, then back to the fight. Rose didn't look the least bit tired at all, but Juliet was running out of energy. Smiling a small bit, I heard Soda and Steve cheering Rose on and with a few other greasers behind them.

The Socs, they didn't even cheer Juliet on. They just stayed quiet and cool as they ever could be.

Within the next moment, Rose was on top of Juliet. She kept her arms pinned nice and good on the ground, kept her knee on the fold of Juliet's back and her foot between her shoulder blades. Juliet kept struggling to break free, but I could see that it was causing her a great amount of pain from the pressure upon her back. Rose ever so slightly readjusted herself on Juliet, and we heard her give out a small shriek.

"You're done, Juliet, so deal with it. I won this battle, like I won all the other times. So stop being a little brat and saying things are suppose to go your way, and get a grip here already. Just grow up and stop fighting for once."

She got off of Juliet, and walked over to us. Soda and Steve were jumping and hugging Rose like crazy, and other greasers applauded her. Looking back at Juliet, she and the other Socs began to walk away from us greasers, without even saying a single word to us. Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to the celebration that us greasers were having.

"So what's next, that's going to happen?"

"Well Pony, I say we go out and celebrate. Don't know where or what we're going to do, but we need to let the last bit of our energy out!"

Soda quickly began to do back flips and did some no-hand cartwheels and was just laughing like crazy. I began to laugh at Soda, as he fell flat on his back and jumped up onto his feet.

"Why don't we head to Jay's, guys? You know grab a bit to and a couple of drinks?"

Steve and Soda were soon all up on me for the idea, and Two-Bit joined in. Tim and Curly, they said they were going to hit the hay and the other groups that came from out of town needed to head home. The Brumly boys said they'll join, and I stare at Darry and Rose.

"I'll join ya Pony, someone's got to keep an eye on you and your brother here from getting into trouble. For your brother Darry, it's up to him if he wants to join or not."

He just barely nodded his head at us, and ruffled mine and Soda's hair. Guess he was joining us on this victory. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"Come on guys, let's get there before they close at midnight."

We all broke out into run towards Jay's Drive In restaurant. I wasn't sure if this was a competition or not, but we kind of did make it a race. I kept pulling ahead of everyone else multiple times, and we did tackle each other once in a while for fun, but other than that I stayed in the lead.

We all settled down into booths at Jays, and decided on things that we wanted to order and had small conversations. I've hardly ever seen Darry come out to a restaurant, so this is one of those rare occasions where he would come with us and hang out.

Two-Bit was talking about Christy to us, and how she got jumped the other day and that he hunted down the two Socs that freaked her, and knocked out their front teeth. Steve went on to talk about Evie, while Soda just shrugged them off and said maybe Darry should get a girl now. We all grew silent at Soda's words, and then broke out into laughter as we saw Darry's face turn a bright red.

When our food came out, we all kind of cooled down and relaxed. Once in a while, Soda, Steve and I, we blew straw wrappers at each other and once or twice it the wrappers would hit a waitress. One of the waitresses got real cocky and gave us a nice good handful of straws, and gave us a small wink. Us guys just smiled as we loaded ourselves with straws and got ready to fire at each other.

"Knock if off ya guys, if I was you I would eat my meal before it got too cold here. So eat up before ya starve to death before it gets cold."

I shoveled a couple of French fries into my mouth, and stared at everyone else. We were all having a small amount of fun and just trying our best to catch up on our lives and how things have been for everyone.

For a bit, we basically just sat at the table eating in silence. Soon enough Evie and Christy came in and sat next to Steve and Two-Bit. Steve just wrapped an arm around Evie, while Two-Bit set Christy on him and pressed his face against her shoulder and neck area.

Darry threw a quarter or two at Soda, and he stared at him like he was crazy or something.

"Put them in the jukebox, Soda. See if they got Jailhouse Rock here."

Soda bounced right out of the booth, and began to look for the song. We all admired Elvis Presley, and greatly loved his music. I mean who doesn't? Well except maybe the Socs, but that's their lose here. Two Bit soon looked up from Christy's shoulder, and gave us all a sly smile.

"Why don't we all play a game here? Cause I was thinking of playing truth or dare here, at least something along there. Or are you guys too chicken to even play it?" 

Soda came back a moment later with a large root beer float and set it down in front of Two-Bit.

"I dare you to drink this whole root beer float without a single break."

"You're suppose to ask me truth or dare, nimrod."

"Where's the fun in that? Plus I always just skip the truth and make the person do the dare anyways, when we play."

"Got a point there, Pepsi-Cola, so I accept your dare."

He grabbed the root beer float and began to drink it down. We started to cheer him on, and for a small second I thought he was going to spit it out and break out laughing. But he managed to keep it down, and slammed the glass onto the table.

"Now my turn, Soda. Who should I go for on this? Let me think. . ."

His eyes darted over us, and I kind of sulked back in my seat along with Steve. The Brumly Boys sulked back too, as we all knew if we picked either truth or dare, Two-Bit would give us something that would be so stupid but it would make us the laughing stock of the town. And if he picked Darry, he always thought twice now cause the last time he picked dare and Darry had to do it, he gave Two-Bit a black eye. And that black eye lasted for at most two weeks, before it started to go away.

"Pony, truth or dare."

"Truth."

At least now he can't get me to do anything stupid on public. He snapped his fingers in an annoyed way but gave me my truth anyways.

"Is it true that Darry might be crushing on Rose, here?"

Right at the moment, I could hear Darry coughing a small bit of his drink back up. Soda began to snicker at this, along with Evie and Christy.

"I really don't know if he's crushing on her or not, but I say he is. That's just my opinion here."

I relaxed a small bit, as the truth question wasn't an embarrassment towards me, but more towards Darry. Pretty sure now that Two-Bit and I had a bit of punishment coming at us later on.

"Alright Pony, now it's your turn to pick someone and ask them truth or dare."

My eyes lay down on one single person.

"Evie, truth or dare?" 

"I'll go with dare here. So what do you want to give me?"

"Dare you to give Two-Bit a black eye within the next two hours."

Soda and Steve were soon laughing their heads off, and Two-Bit sent a glare at me. Grinning, I felt content as I did revenge for both Darry and myself.

We all went around doing crazy dares or asking embarrassing but yet fun truths at each other. Darry managed to do a few good truths and a good dare, but he never really enjoyed playing the game much. Soon Steve was giving out the truth or dare, and he picked Rose for it.

"I picked dare, Randal. So throw me the best one that ya got for me to do."

We all stared at her like she was crazy, as Steve always had the most brilliant of all dares. His were just plain smart, and made to embarrass the second person if there ever was a second person for him to involve.

"Dare ya to kiss Darry here, or are ya chicken?"

"Deal, cause I don't back down from a dare here. Ever."

"Good, cause the dare can't be on the cheek, nose or forehead. Has to be on the lips and can't be under thirty seconds. And neither of you can back down from this."

I think Darry's face went pale at this, but Rose still had determination in her eyes. Both she and Darry looked at each other, and Steve crossed his arms and a smile came upon his face with pride and victory. He just bested Rose and Darry here.

We all moved to different seats, except for Darry, and I could see that he was growing uncomfortable about this. All of us guys grew eager smiles and I could Evie and Christy starting to giggle a small bit. Guess the tension was bringing the giggles out of the girls.

Darry soon pressed his mouth on Rose's, and Steve slowly began to count up past thirty. The seconds seemed to have drone on, but I think Darry was starting to enjoy the kiss along with Rose. Steve reached over the table and hit the back of both their heads.

"Been over thirty seconds ya two, so you can stop."

They pulled away from each other with quickness, and they two of their faces were burning bright. I'm pretty sure we all broke out in awe or laughter at them.

Around midnight, we all headed off to our houses and Rose walked down her path alone. Darry, Soda and I, we all stared at her in silence till we could see her no more. As we walked into our house and to our bedrooms, for a good night sleep.

Staring at the ceiling above me, I wonder what the morning will have waiting for us that is soon to arrive. If anything, I'm pretty sure that the Socs will be up at us for the fight and trying to get us to have another. Like Cherry once said, things will never change. Soc's will still be Soc's no matter, and we'll still be the same ourselves.

Thing's probably won't change her at all, maybe not ever. Not until someone comes and decides to prove that Socs and Greasers aren't much different, but I don't think that person will come and prove it. Ain't that a bitch.


	11. Chapter 11

The days of June slowly turned into July, like a fly landing on a screen slowly realizing it can't get inside. The summer heat, it felt as though someone had left the oven cranked up to it's highest setting and left the door open for all of us to feel.

Darry and Soda, they would come home tanned or maybe sunburned sometimes. And usually, I would be tending to them but a few days Rose would be here and help. I started to call her "Sis" along with Soda, but Darry would sometimes call her "Rosie" when he thinks we're not listening.

We watched the fireworks bloom in the sky on Fourth of July, all of us Greasers together. We played around with each other, drink soda, and smoke some cigarettes, all the while fireworks boomed over us. Rose wasn't with us, as she was stuck home "babysitting" Juliet, while her aunt was away on a call at the hospital. We wanted to bring some sparklers over to her house, but she disagreed to it and told us to watch the real show.

As the first week of July slowly passed by, things in town slowly started to stir with excitement one following morning. Curly Shepard, he came bounding into my house, with a flyer in his hand. For me, I was on the couch watching some morning cartoons.

"Hey Pony, get on up. There's a street race going on in town, it's starting on main street, driving behind the movies, and a few other places of town. So you in to watch some racing?"

"Sure, it beats sitting in the house all day. Let me grab my jacket and we can head off."

Jumping off of the couch, I grabbed my jacket off the arm chair and took off with Curly. We raced against each other down to the convenience store that was nearby on main street. I could hear the roaring engines as we came out of the store with soda's and a couple of snacks in bags, and we ran down to main street as more cars came pulling up. Some drivers were putting their cars on display for people to see, while others were revving the engines as they waited for the race to begin.

Townsfolk, Greasers, and Socs were all gathering all around, waiting for the first car to take off. Cherry was with a couple of her Soc friends, and she gave me a short wave along with Marcia. Giving them a wave back, Marcia beckoned for the two of us to come over to them. Curly looked as though he wanted to ignore them, but I headed on over to them.

"Come on Curly, they're not as bad as ya think. Marcia and Cherry, they're friends of mine. They're okay."

"Alright then, Pony, I'll come with ya to talk with them."

With Curly by my side, we walked over to Cherry, Marcia, and their friends, who were all perched on a Camaro. A couple of the girls giggled about something, but they quickly snapped their mouths shut when they saw us come up to them. But Marcia was quick to put them in their place.

"Oh girls, calm down. They're my friends, so if you have a problem then you can get off my car."

A couple of girls mumbled about something that probably dealt with guys, but they cooled down after we began talking with each other for a few minutes. One of the girls, Connie, who had straight black hair and large brown eyes struck up a conversation about one of the Greaser girls.

"Have ya boys seen Christy lately? Last we heard, she was dating a Greaser."

"Yeah, Two-Bit. Last we saw her, was when the rumble happened with us Greasers and Socs to settle things. Why do ya girls ask?"

"She was suppose to be here, cause we all got an idea to place bets to see which guy would win the race. If one of us got the correct guy then one of us gets all the money, if none of us got the right guy we don't fork up any."

Laughing a small bit, I could see that these girls only meant to have fun with each other and nothing else. And apparently Two-bit was rubbing off on this Soc girl pretty good. Stretching out on the ground a small bit, we all heard the squeal of tires on the pavement and the first car took off. I got off of the ground and we all watched the other cars take off after the other one.

Curly cheered wildly, and soon other cars joined the race. And one of them was a slick, black corvette.

The driver, I could not see at all. They were on the other side of the street from where I stood, and had sped off too quickly to even give me a good chance to have a real good look. Curly, he seemed to have noticed it too, and he toughened up his composure.

After a while, the two of us forgot about the corvette and watch the other cars zip on by or strike out of the race. One car flipped over the railing, but managed to land on its tires and the owner came out alright.

The hour droned on by cars scraping past each other so tightly where we saw sparks or rushing so harshly as they skid to a halt, they left smoke trails behind them. Some cars, they dropped out of the race for a while but they soon reappeared before we even knew it.

Soda and Steve sure were going to have flood of customers soon.

"So which car is your favorite boys?"

Curly answered with the mustang that looked as though it got a new paint job, that was joining the race for a third time. Looking around a small bit, I saw the slick, black corvette go on by all of us.

"That one Cherry, the black vette that came by."

"Oh, that's Jules corvette. She loves her baby so much, to where she drives it just about anywhere now."

My eyes glanced over at the Soc girl next to me, but before I could get a word out Curly managed to get his words out.

"It doesn't belong to her, it's her mothers car. She's not allowed to drive it, house rule. Only her mother and cousin are allowed to drive it. Juliet got in trouble the last time she drove it."

"Then I guess her cousin is driving it then."

"No, Rose is not dumb to enter a race. She rather watch than join, unless it's a fight. She's not as chill as we are, Ann."

"Oh whatever Cherry, one of them is driving and I bet she's going to win the race here. Let's just enjoy it and not bicker anymore about it here."

Cars came driving on by, a couple of cars blew out and had to pushed out of the street so other drivers can avoid them. Curly and I, we left the whole race area for a diner with all the Soc girls cause we were all feeling hungry from all the excitement and the fun. None of the girls ordered any beer like their guys would have, so it was pretty nice that all of us could be chill around each other.

Milkshakes will be served to us, in tall glasses that were cold to the touch. We had requested a bowl of cherries, and we try doing tricks with them. One Soc girl managed to balance a cherry on her nose for almost a full minute, till she caught it with her hand and threw it in her mouth.

I don't think they ever mingled with us Greaser's before, but from the looks of it, they were enjoying our company. Cherry acted cool like them, and no one even noticed how she was being all friendly with us Greasers. Finally, Christy showed up.

"Hey girls, sorry if I'm really late. Had to handle some boys. Punched one of the Soc boys in the nose, cause he tried to pull me in his car. Ran all the way to the other side of town, through back and main roads to avoid him and his friends. Didn't know they stopped following me a long while back."

She nudged herself into the table and ordered her own milkshake, and joined in the conversations. It hadn't been ten minutes before we all heard the sound of metal either crunching or scraping the ground, and people screaming to get out of the way. We all looked at the large windows and stared at the smoke that was filling the air outside.

We were all stunned at seeing the black smoke outside, and none of us moved as sirens filled the air and people were trying to clear the smoke away from the scene. Looking over at Curly, his eyes were glued to the window, not looking away one single bit of the scene before him. I too, had wanted watch the scene till it was all over, but I couldn't even make myself watch it no matter what.


End file.
